Elyas Chakari

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the beginning of the soviet movement in 1979, Elyas, as his stage name at just six months old escaped with his family to Germany where they found refuge. After their stay of about five years, Fazel Ahmad Chakari, Elyas’ father, who back in Kabul Afghanistan, once President of Bank-e-Millie and Khawar Pharmaceuticals, decided that America would be best for his family. First stop was Las Vegas Nevada, then off to California where they have lived ever since.Elyas, at a young age discovered his calling for music. He moved from one instrument to another, each his most precious toy. At age 12, he started taking guitar lessons at Ivar Johnson Music institute in Fremont California, where he learned a tremendous amount about music and theory and was in his school choir to enable his unique voice. Soon after that, he started to show interest in his school’s talent shows by playing electric guitar for the entire school. He later moved on to piano, and bass guitar, but his real passion was drums and percussive instruments. Without any guidance, he learned how to play the drums and later in his years played for a lot of great international musicians for close to a decade.By 2000, Elyas by this time had learned a lot about music theory and applying that to his own material and style. Elyas was ready to work and start on his album. An album that would be different from the usual Afghan music at the time. Unfortunately, that album was not never released due to his own dissatisfaction and personal reasons.Then, in 2009 Elyas was introduced to his producer and songwriter, Shayan Amiri and Bahram Amiri who are currently working on his first commercial album. All with the same chemistry, have created a unique style of music. Elyas also composes some of his own songs.Elyas was inspired by musicians and artists such as, Ahmad Zahir, Googoosh, K.C Porter, Ramin Zamani, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Lenny Kravitz and Micheal Jackson. Elyas has many goals in the future for modern Afghan music production.